Friday, May 28, 2010

Bass-opener thoughts

Well, my friends, bass opener is almost upon, which to me means summer is almost truly upon us.

I have a few places mapped out for Saturday's opener, but the place I'm most looking forward to is Lake Ballantyne, mostly because I will be fishing with a friend who has never caught a bass before, but is awfully excited to get after 'em.

He's asked me a lot of questions lately, and a lot of what he's asked, I'd already been thinking about as I rigged my poles for the morning's opener. So I snapped this crude cell phone picture before I hustled out for work (sorry about the so-so quality), and for you, I'll break down my thought process.

Before we start, I think it is important to understand the one factor I am constantly working over in my head: weeds. Many people see weeds matted along a shoreline and instantly drive off looking for more manageable weeds (because weeds, after all, hold fish, right?).

Taking this approach might make your day a little less stressful because you will spend less time picking weeds off your lures, but I think more and bigger fish will be hanging in those weeds, in pockets, waiting to strike the baitfish hiding out in those same weedbeds. The four lures I tied on for my first outing of 2010 all deal with attacking the weeds.

Scum Frog
The Scum Frog, located in the far left of this picture, is an easy choice for me after watching the feeding patterns of bass the last couple of years. The Scum From can be tossed deep into the weeds, especially those that choke out at the surface top. Often a bass will follow the movements of the frog on top the water until it finds a place to explode through the vegetation for its meal (this same approach can be transferred to fishing lily pads as well).

The general rule here is reel up slack, wait two seconds, and then set the hook.

Texas-rig
To the right of the Scum Frog is my Texas-rig setup. I haven't added the worm yet because I like to keep them fresh by leaving them in the packages until I'm ready to use them. But the Texas-rig is a must when attacking weeds. Rigged to be weedless, this little baby can go anywhere with you on the lake and will do just fine pulling in all sizes of bass.

I like to fish with ribbontail worms, but I'm not against fishing with stick worms (no tail) or even crawdads or similar plastic setups. Colors vary, but for my money, I always have something blue (preferably a blue fleck by PowerBait), something red, something in a greenish/orange blend (the crawdad look) and something with a chartreuse tail. These colors have always worked, so I tend to stay in that category.

Spinnerbait
Second from the right, the spinnerbait needs little introduction or explanation. The spinnerbait works in a lot of ways, but casting and ripping through the weeds isn't the ideal use for this lure. But I still use it when attacking the weeds because I use this lure to roam the outer edges. Since the vibration from the spinner can attract fish from long distances, this lure works well to locate fish. Once located, I can figure out which of my four setups will provide me the best chance to land a lunker.

Flat Rap
Rapala's Flat Rap (far right) may be the best lure the longtime company has put out yet. This takes the best from suspended raps, and the best from the Original Floating Minnow and combines them into a deadly little lure.

Why deadly? The Flat Rap can be worked on top as a wounded minnow (sounds like the Original Floating Minnow, huh?), but the Flat Rap can be worked down to different depths to mimic an injured minnow (kinda like a suspended rap such as a Husky Jerk). It's built to rise slowly, so in essence, a 2 to 4 foot running Flat Rap can be worked down to 4 feet deep or so with the same action it had while struggling at the top of the water.

So far, I've had a northern strike at it, caught a few bass, caught a few sunfish, and pulled in a nice crappie. So the lure is versatile if nothing else.

How does that work to the weeds: Well, in this case I use the Flat Rap to work close to choked out weeds, or above lower, sparser weeds. Both scenarios have worked real well, and I anticipate this lure having a Joe Mauer-like career.

Well, I know that was long, but I hope it helps. Good luck, all!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Fishing report

I talked with the folks out at The Bobber Shop. I'm aiming to hit up area bait shops this year and provided better fishing reports.

In some cases, this works, in some cases, I might just have to drive out to the landings of local lakes and talk with some anglers.

Anyhow, the guys at The Bobber Shop also make time for me, so here is what they gave me for you, good fishing friends:

Walleye action, overall, is slow. Small walleyes are being taken in 14-20 feet of water on Madison Lake. Lake Hanska is also giving up some walleyes; river action for 'eyes has been slow.

Crappies are still pretty active on Lake Washington, and channel cats are starting to really take off in the Blue Earth river. No northern pike action is really being reported.

Personally, I worked West Jefferson for pike near the German and Jefferson Sportsman fishing pier, and while the pike action was slow, a lot of bass and some pretty big sunfish hit my Flat Rap (this should be good news for bass fishermen looking forward to Saturday's opener). A quick move over to Lake George drummed up a nice swirl on the Flat Rap, and because the water was so clear, I saw a second strike by a pike.

As always, if you have a fishing report you'd like to share, post a comment or e-mail Tanner or myself, and we'll pass it along.